Top 50 Food Documentary Films

, 2013, Andrew Beck Grace
In search of a simpler life, a young couple returns home to Alabama where they set out to eat the way their grandparents did – locally and seasonally. But as they navigate the agro-industrial gastronomical
complex, they soon realize that nearly everything about the food system has changed since farmers once populated their family histories. A thoughtful and often funny essay on community,
the South and sustainability, “Eating Alabama” is a story about why food matters.

, 2011, Sally Rowe
Paul Liebrandt is one of the most talented and controversial chefs in the food world and the youngest chef to have received 3 stars from the New York Times. He was 24. NY Times food critic, William Grimes,
likened Paul to 'a pianist who seems to have found a couple of dozen extra keys.' Through Paul, the film reveals the creative process, the extreme hard work, long hours, and dedication it takes to be a culinary
artist and have success in the cutthroat world of haute cuisine. Exploring the complicated relationships between food critics, chefs, and owners the film delves into the life of a dedicated young chef ahead of his time.

, 2013, Graham Meriwether
American Meat is a solutions-oriented documentary chronicling the current state of the U.S. meat industry. Featuring Joel Salatin, Chuck Wirtz, Fred Kirschenmann, Steve Ells, Paul Willis, and farmers across America,
it takes an even-handed look at animal husbandry. First explaining how America arrived at our current industrial system, the story shifts to the present day, showing the feedlots and confinement houses, not through hidden
cameras but through the eyes of the farmers who live and work there. From there, the documentary introduces the revolution taking root in animal husbandry, led by the charismatic and passionate Joel Salatin. Stories are shared
of farmers across the country who have changed their life to start grass-based farms, and everyday solutions highlight actions people can make to support America's agriculture.

, 2009, Kevin Tomlinson
In 1988 director Kevin Tomlinson interviewed a group of back-to-the-land hippies at a 'healing gathering' in rural Washington State practicing peace and love. Now, in this poignant examination of this community over time,
he tracks down those original interviewees and their children twenty years later to find out what the glories and sufferings of living out of the mainstream and off the grid might really look like.

, 2012, Jason Mann
Betting The Farm is the story of a group of Maine dairy farmers who--dropped by their national milk company--are suddenly confronted with the real possibility of losing their farms.
Banding together, the farmers launch their own milk company. Farmers Vaughn Chase, Richard Lary, and Aaron Bell--along with their families--struggle to make ends meet as they get the company off the ground.
But faced with slow sales and mounting bills, can the farmers hang together long enough for the gamble to pay off? Or will they be left worse off than before?

, 2009, Michael Schwarz
Michael Pollan, a professor of journalism and a student of food, presents the history of four plants, each of which found a way to make itself essential to humans, thus ensuring widespread propagation.
Apples, for sweetness; tulips, for beauty; marijuana, for pleasure; and, potatoes, for sustenance. Each has a story of discovery and adaptation; each has a symbiotic relationship with human civilization.

, 2009, Bertram Verhaag
Imagine that a storm blows across your garden and that now, genetically-manipulated seeds are in your crops. A multi-national corporation pay you a visit, demand that you surrender your crops –
and then sue you for $200, 000 for the illegal use of patented, GM seeds. In this definitive David and Goliath battle, one farmer stands up against a massive multinational, and their right to claim
ownership to a living organism.

, 2011, Jeremy Seifert
Inspired by a curiosity about our country's careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated
garbage receptacles of Los Angeles' supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food - resulting in an inspiring documentary that is equal parts entertainment,
guerilla journalism and call to action.

, 2011, Kristin Canty
Farmageddon is the story of a mom whose son healed from all allergies and asthma after consuming raw milk, and real food from farms. It depicts people all over the country who formed food co-ops and
private clubs to get these foods, and how they were raided by state and local governments.

, 2006, Richard Linklater
An ensemble piece examining the health risks involved in the fast food industry and its environmental and social consequences as well.

Fat Sick and Nearly Dead

, 2010, Joe Cross
100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope.
In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well- with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT,
SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health.

, 2008, Jean-Paul Jaud
For the first time ever, our children are growing up less healthy than we are. As the rate of cancer, infertility and other illnesses linked to environmental factors climbs upward each year,
we must ask ourselves: why is this happening? French / Subtitles

, 2008, Christopher Taylor
A fascinating look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement rebelled against big agribusiness to launch the local
organic food movement.

, 2008, James Colquhoun
Food Matter examines how the food we eat can help or hurt our health. Nutritionists, naturopaths, doctors, and journalists weigh in on topics organic food, food safety, raw foodism, and nutritional therapy.

Forks over Knives

, 2011, Lee Fulkerson
Examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.

, 2009, Ana Sofia Joanes
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model,
and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision
for a future of our food and our planet.

, 2012, Jeffrey M Smith
When the US government ignored repeated warnings by its own scientists and allowed untested genetically modified (GM) crops into our environment and food supply,
it was a gamble of unprecedented proportions. The health of all living things and all future generations were put at risk by an infant technology. After two decades,
physicians and scientists have uncovered a grave trend. The same serious health problems found in lab animals, livestock, and pets eating GM foods are now on the rise in the US population.
And when people and animals stop eating genetically modified organisms (GMOs), their health improves. This seminal documentary provides compelling evidence to help explain the deteriorating
health of Americans, especially children, and offers a recipe for protecting ourselves and our future.

, 2010, Severine von Tscharner Fleming
Armed with a camcorder, farmer-filmmaker-activist Severine von Tscharner Fleming spent two years crisscrossing America, meeting and mobilizing a network of revolutionary young farmers resettling the land.
'The Greenhorns' is an ode to their grit and entrepreneurial spirit, an exploration of sustainable agriculture, and an enticement to reclaim our national soil. The ninety minute feature is the culmination
of well over 200 hours of original footage from all regions of the United States, as well as original animation by young urban farmer and artist Brooke Budner, and rare agricultural archival footage from
the Prelinger Archives. Ultimately, The Greenhorns shows us how farmers can move out of the margins recent history has consigned them to, and back to the heart of the American food landscape.

, 2012, James Colquhoun
HUNGRY FOR CHANGE exposes shocking secrets the diet, weight loss and food industries don't want you to know about deceptive strategies designed to keep you coming back for more.
Find out what's keeping you from having the body and health you deserve.

, 2012, Kip Pastor
A documentary that follows director Kip Pastor on a personal journey to answer commonly asked questions about organic food: What exactly is organic? Is it really better, or just a marketing scam?

, 2009, Robert Bates
At the focal point of the food movement, and of this film, are the farmers and chefs who are creating a truly sustainable food system. Their collaborative work has resulted in great tasting food and an
explosion of consumer awareness about the benefits of eating local. For the first time in history, our children’s generation is expected to have a shorter lifespan than our own. The quality,
taste and nutritional value of the food we eat has dropped sharply over the last fifty years. Shipped from ever-greater distances, we have literally lost sight of where our food comes from and in
the process we've lost a vital connection to our local community and to our health.

, 2007, Aaron Woolf
King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from
college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and
grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises
troubling questions about how we eat-and how we farm.

, 2009, Chris Hegedus
The collar awarded to the winners of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France) is more than the ultimate recognition for every pastry chef - it is a dream and an obsession.
The 3-day competition includes everything from delicate chocolates to precarious six foot sugar sculptures and requires that the chefs have extraordinary skill, nerves of steel and luck.
The film follows Jacquy Pfeiffer, founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago, as he returns to France to compete against 15 of France's leading pastry chefs. The filmmakers were given
first time/exclusive access to this high-stakes drama of passion, sacrifice, disappointment and joy in the quest to have President Sarkozy declare them one of the best in France.

Locavore: Local Diet, Healthy Planet

, 2009, Jay Canode
Locavore, the movie, is truly a local production. You won't find any big name "Foodie" celebrities in this production - they're not needed. The Living Farm's Lynn Gillespie plus Jay Canode use
local talent to describe what a locavore is all about. Locavore is positive - it does not go into the graphic details of industrial agriculture issues. Locavore, on the other hand, is more instructive.
Instructive in the sense that the movie makers let the locals themselves tell the locavore story. The movie includes a number of anecdotes from locals who convince the audience with sincerity the benefits
of eating locally in terms of physical and community economic health.

, 2005, Nikolaus Geyrhalter
OUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn't always easy to digest - and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience
to form their own ideas.

, 2009, Rebecca Hosking
(UK) A Farm For the Future' explores how peak oil will effect farming and food distribution and why permaculture design, forest gardening and other regenerative agriculture practices could help us to
cope with soaring fossil fuel prices that drive current agriculture practices which relies on fertilizers, mechanization and distribution by transitioning to organic practices, diversifying yields and
localizing food supply.

, 2008, Mark Becker
There's a force-of-nature behind the door to Room 325 at Frankford High School in Philadelphia. Her name is Wilma Stephenson and she teaches Culinary Arts. Infamously blunt, Mrs. Stephenson runs a
"boot camp" at Frankford, disciplining her students into capable chefs and responsible students. A teacher for 40 years, Wilma can be cantankerous - but behind her tough talking exterior is a teacher
who cares passionately about getting the best out of her kids. She'll do anything for those students with the hunger to succeed; those who fall short will not be missed - many will drop out before the
first week is over. PRESSURE COOKER documents an entire school year with Wilma and those students committed enough to surrender themselves to her enlightened despotism.

, 2010, Taggart Siegel
QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis from Taggart Siegel, director of THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN.
Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, this engaging and ultimately uplifting film weaves an unusual and dramatic story
of the heartfelt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world including Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva. Together they reveal both the problems and
the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.

, 2012, Gary Null
This film exposes the dangers of genetically modified foods and features leading scientists, physicians, professors, attorneys and activists. You'll see the corruption surrounding GMOs and the deception
being perpetrated against the world.

, 2012, Jess Phillimore
Seeds of Freedom charts the story of seed from its roots at the heart of traditional, diversity-rich farming systems across the world, to being transformed into a powerful commodity,
used to monopolise the global food system.

, 2013, Jess Phillimore
Seeds of Sovereignty shares the stories of African communities embarking on a journey to revive their traditional seed diversity, and take back control over their food systems.
Forging a path toward a socially just, ecologically sane and sovereign future, they are courageously challenging the corporate, profit driven model of agriculture imposed upon them.

Soul Food Junkies

, 2012, Byron Hurt
To many African Americans, soul food is sacrament, ritual, and a key expression of cultural identity. But does this traditional cuisine do more harm to health than it soothes the soul?

, 2008, Steve Kroschel
A troubled 15-year-old boy attempting to cope with the recent death of his mother sets out to research Dr. Max Gerson's claims of a diet that can cure cancer as his first assignment for home-schooling
in this documentary from filmmaker Steve Kroschel . Garrett is a boy who has always been close to nature. He lives on a reserve with a menagerie of orphaned animals, and over the years he's become
especially sensitive to the nutritional needs of the diet-sensitive animals he's charged with caring for. When Garrett's mother suffers a tragic and untimely death, the boy falls into a dangerous
downward spiral and nearly flunks out of school.

, 2011, U. Roberto Romano
The story of the children who work 12-14 hour days in the fields without the protection of child labor laws. These children are not toiling in the fields in some far away land. They are working in America.

, 2013, Andy Heathcote
Modern British dairy farms must get bigger and bigger or go under but Farmer Stephen Hook decides to buck the trend. Instead he chooses to have a great relationship with his small herd of cows and ignore
the big supermarkets and dairies. The result is a laugh-out-loud emotional roller-coaster of a film, a heart warming tearjerker about the incredible bonds between man, animal and countryside in a
fast disappearing England.

, 2005, Taggart Siegel
The epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer. Castigated as a pariah in his community, Farmer John bravely transforms his farm amidst a failing economy, vicious rumors, and arson.
He succeeds in creating a bastion of free expression and a revolutionary form of agriculture in rural America.

, 2009, Maryam Henein
This documentary takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee.
The film examines our current agricultural landscape and celebrates the ancient and sacred connection between man and the honeybee. The story highlights the positive changes that have resulted due
to the tragic phenomenon known as "Colony Collapse Disorder." To empower the audience, the documentary provides viewers with tangible solutions they can apply to their everyday lives. Vanishing of
the Bees unfolds as a dramatic tale of science and mystery, illuminating this extraordinary crisis and its greater meaning about the relationship between humankind and Mother Earth. The bees have a message -
but will we listen?

, 2010, Marisa Miller Wolfson
Vegucated is a guerrilla-style documentary that follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks and learn what it's all about.
They have no idea that so much more than steak is at stake and that the planet's fate may fall on their plates. Lured by tales of weight lost and health regained, they begin to uncover
hidden sides of animal agriculture that make them wonder whether solutions offered in films like Food, Inc. go far enough. Before long, they find themselves risking everything to expose an
industry they supported just weeks before. But can their convictions carry them through when times get tough? What about on family vacations fraught with skeptical step-dads, carnivorous cousins,
and breakfast buffets? Part sociological experiment and part adventure comedy, Vegucated showcases the rapid and at times comedic evolution of three people who are trying their darnedest to change
in a culture that seems dead set against it.

, 2009, Catherine Gund
WHAT'S ON YOUR PLATE is a witty and provocative documentary about kids and food politics. Filmed over the course of one year, the film follows two eleven-year-old African-American city kids as
they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. They formulate sophisticated and compassionate opinions
about urban sustainability, and by doing so inspire hope and active engagement in others.

Coming soon: 100% GLUTEN FREE

A documentary film about the rising prevalence of celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity worldwide. It investigates the causes for this upsurge and what this means for our future.
The film wants to raise awareness of celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) among the mainstream population in order to increase the celiac disease and NCGS diagnosis rate as much and
as quickly as possible. Even today many patients still receive wrong treatments because their physicians don’t consider gluten sensitivity to be the cause for their patients’ ailments. In reality,
it still takes six to ten years filled with endless doctors visits and countless pills until a patient finally receives the correct diagnosis and the treatment to most if not all of his or her ailments:
a gluten-free diet. Besides raising awareness, this film hopes to provide educational and emotional support to everyone who has recently been diagnosed with celiac disease or NCGS and feels lost.
The film will address as many of the questions as possible that everyone usually asks after the diagnosis, but it will also try to answer those questions that no one thinks to ask but which are crucial for a
fast recovery. The film will talk to people who have celiac disease or NCGS, it will talk to their family members and friends, to leading scientists, clinicians, and dietitians in the field, and much more.
http://www.100percentglutenfree.com/

Another film to check out is Eating Alaska (2008, Ellen Frankenstein), http://www.eatingalaska.com/.
The Film
What happens to a vegetarian who moves to Alaska and marries a commercial fisherman and deer hunter?
Join her on a wry search for a sustainable, healthy and ethical meal. Women try to teach her to hunt, teens gather traditional foods, vegans give cooking lessons, she fishes for wild salmon, scrutinizes food labels with kids and finds toxic chemicals getting into wild foods. ...